Jeff Darby joined the UTEP Athletics staff in July of 1999. He began his tenure as Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations, and currently serves as Deputy Athletic Director for Brand Advancement.
Previously Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Relations, Darby was elevated to Deputy Athletic Director for Brand Advancement in November of 2023. In this role, he continues to manage UTEP’s identity through oversight of branding, licensing and creative services initiatives. He also supervises the broadcasting and strategic communications units. Darby is the department liaison to UTEP Athletics’ Multimedia Rights partner Van Wagner. He also has oversight of the Sports Medicine and Strength and Conditioning units. In addition to these duties, he has added fundraising responsibilities for the sports that he supervises, football and softball, to his scope of work.
He was previously Senior Associate Athletic Director for Sport Administration, overseeing the Academics and Compliance areas. He also served as the athletics liaison to the University Human Resources department. He was also formerly the men's basketball, women's basketball, women's golf and tennis sport administrator.
Darby is also the athletics liaison for the annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony. He assists the Director of Athletics on numerous special projects, including coordinating and producing the strategic plan and student-athlete handbook.
As Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations, Darby was the liaison for four football bowl teams (2000 Humanitarian, 2004 Houston, 2005 GMAC, 2010 New Mexico), and three men’s basketball NCAA Tournament squads (2004, 2005, 2010). In 2000, he launched a marketing campaign for football tight end Brian Natkin, who became the first unanimous All-American in school history.
Darby came to El Paso after spending four years (1995-99) as Associate Sports Information Director at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, where he was staff liaison to the cross country, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and volleyball programs, and second in command for football and men’s basketball.
A 1994 graduate of the University of Iowa, Darby served an internship in the sports information department at the University of Florida from 1994-95. He coordinated print media interviews for a football team that was ranked #1 in the nation for seven weeks, as well as co-edited and designed the weekly football release package. He was also the sports information director for men’s tennis and authored a media guide that was judged “third-best in the nation.”
A native of Bettendorf, Iowa, Darby worked in the sports information department at Iowa as an undergraduate for all four years. In-between his junior and senior year, he did a double internship with the Washington Bullets’ public relations and marketing departments in the NBA. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from Iowa.
Darby and his wife, Nancy, have two sons, Chris and Tommy.
